BY JEREMY GOODE

(PHOTOS BY KATHY LEISTER FOR PSD)

GLENSIDE, PA-- If Disney needed a movie pitch, look no further than the 2025 Haverford School’s boys’ soccer team.

It had everything you would want in a story.

Haverford attempted to win their fourth league title in a row this season. When that did not happen on the last day of the season, as they finished second and a game behind Penn Charter, they had to pivot. They went on a run and earned their way to the PAISAA state championship game.

They would have to win the final game without their head coach, because he was given two yellow cards the game before.

And like every Disney movie, someone like Haverford’s assistant coach Homero Rodriguez steps up to save the day. In this case, the state championship.

On Wed., Nov 12, 2025, The Haverford School beat The Westtown School 1-0 at Arcadia University to win the PAISAA championship for the first time since 2015.

“Considering that we were this close to a back-to-back-to-back-to-back Inter-Ac title and did not achieve it, it was very heartbreaking,” Rodriguez said. “But, to come off of with this championship feels a little bit better.”

After tying Penn Charter in their first meeting, and then losing to Episcopal in the following week, Haverford was behind the eight ball in mid-October as they trailed Penn Charter. They were never able to catch Penn Charter, as that school’s last game of the season win clinched the Inter-Ac outright.

When asked what it was like for Haverford to not win a fourth consecutive league title for Haverford, Haven Hoilett was quite candid.

“It is pretty weird, but at the end of the day, we did hang a banner, because that’s what we do,” Hoilett said. “If we didn’t win the Inter-Ac, we had to win PAISAA.”

Going into every season Haverford is a banner hunter, and for the last four years in different ways the team has ended the season as a banner collector.

With their destiny largely out of their hands for the last few weeks of the season, Haverford was able to turn to something they had not had much success in over recent years; the PAISAA championship.

Because the Inter-Ac schedule bleeds into the first week of November, and PAISAA begins at the very end of October, many Inter-Ac teams are not able to adjust to the change suddenly, which can often result in early exits from PAISAA. Over the past three seasons, the Inter-Ac has been decided on the last day of the season, so the top teams are more concerned about league results.

Not for Haverford this year.

After their loss at Penn Charter made it unlikely to even share the Inter-Ac title, let alone win it outright, Haverford shifted the plan. They did not lose another game, winning five straight, ultimately winning the state championship.

“We knew it was in Penn Charter’s hands,” Haverford head coach Keith Cappo said. “We knew this was the first year that we’ve really been able to focus in on it [PAISAA]."

Since Haverford did not have control this year of the Inter-Ac on the last game of the season, they used the new-found energy and applied it to PAISAAs. Haverford beat Hill 2-0 in the first round. They beat Germantown Academy in the second round, 2-0. Then they took out Perkiomen by the same score in the semifinals. In the finals, although they only score a single goal, they shut out Westtown. Haverford outscored its opponents in the PAISAA tournament, 

Early on in the Westtown game, it was back and forth around the middle of the field. Westtown sent the ball to goal a few times. Haverford’s Jose Hernandez eventually changed the game, sending a deep ball down field to Hoilett, who made his defender fall as he buried a goal one on one against Westtown’s keeper, Wyatt Crislip, with 23 minutes remaining in the first half.

Hoilett, who is also a runner, attributes the goal to his speed.

“No one really is as fast as me,” Hoilett said. “When my teammate kicked the ball over the top, I ran. And once I ran, I knew I was going to put the ball in the back of the net.”

It’s hard to score against Westtown, and it’s hard to lead by a goal and hold that lead for 63 minutes. Haverford was able to do so.

Westtown pressed forward for much of their time trailing the lead, but to no avail. Haverford goalkeeper Graham Costello shut out Westtown, like he had done often in the regular season throughout Haverford’s schedule.

“I did not get tested as much, but I felt great,” Costello said. “Just doing my job, doing my part communicating to the team.”

Haverford rallied behind Rodriguez, an assistant who really is an assistant in name only. He has been with the program for several years now and coached through the three consecutive league titles.

If Cappo was not available, what a "consolation prize" Haverford has in being able to turn to Rodriguez.

“It might have been a little bit weird at first since Homero does not yell as much as I do,” Cappo joked. “But he knew exactly what to do and I’m proud of him. He had the opportunity, and he stepped up and killed it.”

The PAISAA championship is Haverford’s first in a decade. It was their first time back since they lost to the Kiski School in 2019.

This year’s championship marked the first time in several years that Kiski did not win the title. Kiski won the last five PAISAA championships going into this season. This year were knocked out in early November, losing at Episcopal Academy, 2-0.

Last year’s Inter-Ac MVP, Anthony Costa, summed up this season’s team. The senior, who will play lacrosse at Brown University next year leaves Haverford with three league titles and a state title.

“We probably were not the best soccer team in the state, but we definitely had the most grit, the most effort and we had the brotherhood,” Costa said. “We played with each other for 80 minutes, and we just battled. That’s what we do.”